School district thanks community

Now that the recently completed special election results are certified, the Grand Coulee Dam School District (GCDSD) Board of Directors wants to express our deep appreciation and thanks to our community for supporting our schools by voting to approve our replacement school levy. Your continued financial support remains essential to the quality and future success of our programs, staff and, most importantly, our students at Lake Roosevelt schools. The passing of this levy will enable our School District to continue to provide a varied and challenging educational opportunity for all of our local kids. Again, THANKS!

Also, we want to offer some perspective on the financial standing of our school district relative to other nearby school districts. By comparing our financial performance to that of other similarly situated, regional school districts, we can provide a fair and factual appraisal of how we are doing in the area of managing taxpayer dollars.

We’ve selected three financial data points for comparison: 1) dollars spent by each school district per student per academic year; 2) total annual taxpayer obligations by school district; and 3) superintendent salaries per year (a singular example of staff expenditures).

First of all, for the category of annual dollars spent for educating each student we selected three school districts similarly located on tribal lands. The results per student: Nespelem $43,022; Inchelium $36,117; Wellpinit $33,369; and Grand Coulee Dam $19,717 in 2023-24. These other three school districts spent nearly twice as much, on average, as our school district spent to educate their kids!

Next, let’s take a look at three regionally located school districts and their total annual taxpayer obligations. For our district the number represents a single levy; for these other districts the number represents ongoing multiple levies and/or levies plus bonds—all taxpayer obligations. To be clear, this is a comparison of per-year total taxpayer obligations relative to the GCDSD: Brewster — $2.68 million; Okanogan — $2.58 million; Davenport — $2 million; and the GCDSD — $1.04 million. Compared to the GCDSD, these other three school districts are annually costing taxpayers at or above twice as much as the GCDSD is receiving to educate students.

Finally, we will take a quick snapshot of superintendents’ salaries as an example of financial management overall. The GCDSD superintendent is paid several thousand dollars less per year than his counterparts in Brewster, Okanogan and Davenport, and over $100,000 less per year than the superintendent at Wellpinit.

In sum, if you objectively and factually compare the GCDSD to other similarly located school districts, contrary to what some people might say, the conclusion should be obvious: the GCDSD is a relative bargain in the area of public education.

Please keep in mind as we endeavor to keep the cost of education in check as evidenced by the facts provided above, that education is an increasingly expensive but essential investment in the future of our community and certainly our students. By delivering this levy approval, you are greatly assisting in this education process for our students. Again, we thank you for your tangible support now and moving forward.

GCDSD Board

of Directors:

Shannon

Nicholson,

Rich Black,

George Laplace, Alex Tufts and

Buffy Nicholson